Looking Back at Delinda Dyrssen

It’s hard to believe when a friend passes away, especially when she’s young. Delinda Dyrssen was one whom had done so much, and had promise to do much more.

When I signed up with Second Life Newspaper in late 2007, Delinda (Denise WIlliams in real life) was one of the other freelance reporters. She did a variety of articles, notably ones related to music. As a freelancer, she could still work with other media. And she took a position as one of the staff at Paisley Beebe’s “Tonight Live” show. Over time in 2008, she became more involved with the show, as well as becoming part-owner of a music and dance club, “The Pocket,” and the articles we got from her few. But she and I remained friends. She was part of the reason I would drop by the set of “Tonight Live” time to time.

In 2009, with Paisley’s help, she began hosting a show of her own: Live ‘n Kickin, what Paisley called Delinda’s “baby.” Having a love of music, the show allowed her to put new talent in the spotlight. “I want ... the artists we showcase to get to as many avatars as possible,” Delinda explained, “to sell their albums, and to get booked for gigs, both real-life and Second Life, and to get offers and good deals from being exposed on our show. I hope that happens. They deserve it.” Live n Kickn would play for over a year, showcasing many artists and locations, until the show was finally canceled in October 2010.

Delinda ended up on dialysis in May 2009. her kidneys failing. Months later, she was able to get a transplant through a donor exchange program. She considered herself lucky, as those under dialysis develop complications as time passes, her doctor explaining, “of the 450 or so renal patient load he carries about about 70 of them die each year after an average of 6 to 10 years on dialysis.” After her recovery, she decided to take “a little trip (of a lifetime,” going around the world. Besides sightseeing and running into a few of her online friends, “I needed to take advantage of an opportunity to do some good in the world. ... Yes I know, I am just as important as a grain of sand on a beach, But I also know that just one person can make a difference, and even if I fail, at least I will know that I tried.”

She continued to go online between flights and sightseeing, updating her blogs, helping out with Treet.TV and the Pocket, and keeping in touch with friends. In one post, she described one experience in Tunisia in which the doctors were uninterested in new treatments for kidney disease, appearing to prefer their dialysis patients remain sick. Her last entries were on November 13, her Twitter stating she was “feeling a tiny bit under the weather.” I didn’t think much, until when I heard on Saturday November 20th that she had fallen into a coma. Before lapsing, she had thought she would be only be in the hospital briefly, and asked friends not to worry. Still, her friends at the Pocket gathered, and arranged for music to be played in her hospital room the night of the 19th. It was told that she was close to being awake and tears came to her eyes. So everyone was hopeful, including the doctors.

But to everyone’s shock, her heart gave out and she died. She was 32 years old.

As word got around, people gathered at The Pocket, talking about her and what she had done. Musicians, media personalities, and regular fans, we were all united in remembering our now departed friend, whom had given so much of herself so others could shine. Chesnut Rau created an SL group, Delinda Dyrssen Memorial, for updates ,"This group is to organize a memorial concert to benefit her favorite charity and to honor her endless enthusiasm." Her family has stated they will post information on real-life services on the old DWkidneyupdate blog.

Let the musicians she has helped throughout her time in Second Life be her memorial.

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that." -- Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (tweeted by Delinda Dyrssen on Oct 29).

Bixyl Shuftan

Sources: Delinda's brb blog, Delinda's afk blog, Delinda's Twitter, Tonight Live blog, New World Notes,

Delinda's Friends Gather at The Pocket

After news of Delinda Dyrssen's dying spread, people from around Second Life stopped by the Pocket to pay their respects, and talk about the good she had done.

Rest in peace, Delinda.

BREAKING NEWS: Delinda Dyrrsen Passes Away

We had only just heard Delinda Dyrrsen had fallen into a coma, when worse news came in.

It is with a broken heart I write this note. I was to meet Dan (her RL friend) this morning to take him to more events so Delinda could hear the music she loves so much. He contacted me this this morning to inform me that we lost her. He did not provide a lot of details, I don't think he had them but he did say her heart stopped and they could not get it started again. I know this will hit very hard since we thought she was improving but I would like for you to join me in continuing to pray for Delinda's family as they process this and grieve. Her cousin will try to keep us informed of any RL memorial services via her twitter thread at http://twitter.com/DWkidneyupdate.

Tangle Giano

If you care to gather the Pocket has opened it's doors for everyone.

Later on, came a more official buliten:

I regret to have to tell you, Denise passed away this morning at 8:05 am from cardiac arrest.

Her Dr said that her kidney illness had taken a toll on her heart and unfortunately she could not hold on. Last night we all saw how much people on Secondlife loved her and they now consider them a part of their extended family. They want to thank them from the bottom of their hearts for bringing so much love to her last few hours on this earth. Her doctor told us that the tears we saw in her eyes were probably a reaction to hearing her friends who got to talk to her.. and the music that brought her so much joy.

Her family is requesting In lieu of flowers, people may send a donation in her name (Denise Williams) to http://kdigo.org/ and / or Shay kelly of Project 50/50 http://www.shaykelley.com/ who inspired her more than she (Shay Kelly) would ever know.

Denise was 32 years old. She had so much she wanted to do in this world. We will miss her.

God takes the good ones early.


The Pocket is at Freestar Bay Isle (242, 22, 22)

Delinda got her start at Second Life Newspaper, later getting a job at Treet.tv and Tonight Live, and becoming part owner of "The Pocket" dance club. She ran the Live n Kickin music show on Treet until it was recently canceled.

SL Fiction: Real Memories Brought to Virtual Life

What a wonderful thing it would be to relive old memories again ... or would it? FoxM Ember explores some of the possibilities in his series of "creative fiction" stories about Second Life's possible future as people deal with seeing what was once lost to time before their eyes again. Are they always prepared?

Read the "creative fiction" piece by FoxM Ember in Extra.

The Afghanistan Museum

Today, Gemma reports on a place in Second Life devoted to a country in real life we read about regularly in the news, but often know little about: Afghanistan. Here, Gemma learns some about the geography and culture of this diverse country, and about the organization there devoted to improving the lives of the women there.

Read Gemma's article in Places.

Simball

I was recently contacted about a new sport in Second Life, Simball. Currently under development by Sean Martin's Vetox Project, it's being practiced as a beta. I had a chance to see a game for myself.

Read about the Simball in Design.

Postcard from Breezes

Visit Big Isle (229, 49, 233)

Rockin Horse Ranch owner Wickman Gibbs of Famous Stage One Productions has created a magnificent ranch. So special to me is he has a pink mare. A Limited Edition Breast Cancer mare. Hopefully she will be come preggie today, 11/17-2010. I don't know, but this must be a 1st for SL.

I am always searching for something,


Breezes Babii

Cartoon of the Day

By Bixyl Shuftan

Eye on the Blog: the SL Web Viewer Beta

After being talked about for some time, Kim Linden announced Linden Labs had made a limited release of their web-based viewer.

Yesterday, we quietly launched a beta test of a new technology that opens up Second Life to new users like never before: Second Life on the Web! The SL Web Viewer allows new users to become Second Life “guests” through the Web and enjoy basic SL functionality while exploring exciting destinations in Second Life -- all without downloading a Viewer.

Linden Labs is asking residents to test their viewer. However, not everyone who tries will get the chance. Residents are asked to click on http://interest.secondlife.com/beta , where they sit through a video lasting a bit less than a minutes, and then are given either an “Explore Now” button, which means they can proceed, or a “Join now” button, which means they can’t. I myself tried several times with no luck. Those who are successful can create a temporary guest account to use the viewer.

Wallace Linden stated, “The test won't be available to everyone, based on a number of variables, including bandwidth, system setup details, and other factors. I don't think cookies or repeated logins will make a difference. I don't have more information that that at the moment, though.”

In the comments below, most residents, at least those who could get in, were pleased with the viewer. Inksky Jedburg has one of the more detailed comments, “The first thing I noted was how very simplified the viewer was, obviously not going to be a tool for builders and creators, but rather a tool for socializing (on a limited scale compared to the SL viewer), and exploring. I could not go into mouselook to look up and down from my POV, though camera controls were available as was ‘camming.’ The beta only allows you to go to a select few locations, less than 100 I believe, and I understand having it that way for the beta. Though textures were gray for a while, what struck me was how smooth movement was. As I thought of first time user experience, the dumbed down controls like sound on/off, pick from a palette of locations to visit, and a palette of available avatars, and a very basic help window describing around a dozen available functions, seemed to be very complimentary controls for someone visiting for the first time, or even coming in on business for the first time. Simple and stupid, and yet showing SL as it mostly is seen on the viewer (minus windlight!). “

Inksky was “favorably impressed” with the viewer, “I think it has potential to be much better, and I believe it could be a major win if developed with greater care than LL has given past developments. So please, proceed with caution LL and use some common sense to make this extremely useful development pay off.”

New World Notes also has an article on the Web Viewer Beta, which included a review by Alicia Chenaux, and a video from Metaverse TV.



Vryl Valkyrie also has a few pictures of her experiences of the Web Viewer in her Flicker account.

Veterans’ Tribute Finishes

Saturday November 13th was the last day of events at the Second Life Veterans Tribute. There were no demonstrations of helicopters and planes as Wednesday had, only music. At 6 PM SL time, there was SkyRider Siding. At 8 PM there was JimmyT49 Dukes. at 9 PM SL time, there was lady DJ Luscious Giano. The last DJ of the event from 11 PM 1o 1 in the morning was DJ Voodoo Cooperstone.

Chatting with him, Voodoo commented, “I'd just Like to say thank you to all the people that made this event possible, and a great big thank you to all our vets and active duty service men, and women overseas and here that make our country so proud.” (smile) “A lot of effort goes on that many don’t realise. It’s truly an honor to do this, I’ve been doing this for 2 years and will continue for as long as I am breathing.”

Wellhung Bagley gave his "heartful thanks to everyone" the following morning, “Well, sadly another SLVT has come to an end. We already have some ideas from people for next year. So everyone knows, we logged 1391 visitors for the week, almost 200 a day. Wed the 10th was out busiest day with traffic right at 24,000. Again thank you all!!!!”

As of Midnight SL time, more than 213,000 Lindens had been raised, which will go to Operation Uplink (http://www.operationuplink.org/) for pre-paid phone cards for vets overseas. This was short of their goal, but still considered a success.

“Mission Accomplished.”

“Don’t ever take vets for granted. ... You’ll get your a** kicked! Ha-ha!”

Bixyl Shuftan

Mystery Throws Surprise Party for Owner Tygeria Mirabeau

Mystery sim owner Tygeria Mirabeau had a birthday coming up, but her friend and manager Amythe Moonlight wanted to give her a surprise party she and others would not soon forget. The result was an event-filled couple of hours with great music and quite a bit of “creative misbehaving” going on.

To read what happened, go to Events.

Classic Club from 2004, Club Fur, Returns

Nydia Tungsten recently met up with me with some news, “some big changes are coming. It is well known that Illusions is our sister club. Well, we are now teaming up with SpiritValley to help revive SL's oldest furry dance club ... Club Fur. So the four clubs are going to be working together. From what I have been told, it is Second Life's first furry club.” Nydia went on to say, “the four clubs are going to be working together.”

Club Fur has been owned for the past year by Alynna Vixen, “I always had the ability to make this club rock. I just don't have the ability to run it alone. ... We're kinda joining a conglomeration of clubs. ... Hopefully the new staff will do more with it.” Nydia responded, “Well, we are forming it.”

Alynna was told by the previous owners the club was built in 2004, which makes it one of the oldest clubs in Second Life regardless of genre. Club Fur’s wiki (started in 2005), states that it’s form “was partially inspired by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright,” at one time sitting over an ocean, much of the floor was made of glass plate so people could see under the water. The wiki describes an interesting history, supposedly at one point rescued from an old home "two minutes before they leveled the place." Before Alynna, it sat in Furnation Prime. She described it as not being used very much. When Furnation Prime closed, she was given the club, where it was moved to Kitsuhana, a sim of the Sunweaver Estates.

Located high above the ground, the club looks like it’s in the middle of space, a neon cat’s face on top slowly rotating. It’s glass wall gives a clear view into the interior from one side. Inside, the middle and back of the club is illuminated with neon lights and whirling beams of color. To the side of the club is a bar with the front end of a hot rod mounted on a wall. Near the front window are a few arcade machines, including Vectorzone, which can be played between parties. In two of the corners, people can sit around a table, where a dancer can perform if she likes, Alynna explaining, “the table dancers do not have to be in (the club) group to use the tip jars above them. The stage poles still require group membership.”

Late Saturday night, Nydia had a “pre-opening” party for a few friends of her and Alynna. The club had its first. On Sunday night was the “Rock Out” party, in which the club was officially open.

Club Fur is located at the Kitsuhana sim at (136, 84, 2007).

Bixyl Shuftan

The Roaring 20's Chicago RP Sim

Some of you may remember Lizzy Arriaga from Second Life Newspaper. She recently returned after about a year's hiatus from Second Life, and to her surprise found her old newspaper gone. Finding out about us, she wanted to get back into writing, and it wasn't long before she came across a joint that can only be described as "the cats meow." So don't be a "pill," get your suit and tommy gun, and head on over to the Roaring 20's Chicago RP sim.

To get a piece of the action, go to Places.

Later Today: Classic SL Club to Return

A club that first appeared in 2004, but whose original owners had to move on, and found itself passed on a couple times, is finally being brought back into service. Second Life Newser will have more on this story later today.

Stay tuned

SL Poetry - Intimate Moments and Thoughts of Us

Shellie Sands recently had another visit from her muse. Today, we have another poem from her: "Intimate Moments and Thoughts of Us."

Read the poem in Extra.

Sunday Cartoon: WW2 RP Area

By Bixyl Shuftan

Veterans Tribute Events on the US Marines’ Anniversary

Besides being the birthday of the US Marine Corp, Wednesday Nov. 10 offered a few events at the Second Life Veterans Tribute. Among them were a Coast Guard rescue, and a dogfight in the skies.

Read the story in Events.

SL Chess Grandmaster Boris Alterman

The Grand Master Boris Alterman will challenge and play the best chess players in Second Life in Roselinda’s Paradise. Eymerich Lane arranged this simultaneous exhibition. The Arbiter of the event will be Jiraiya Teskat.

You are invited to visit the event from 1:00 pm sl on November 14, Sunda. Boris Alterman is well known around the chess world for his numerous wins and coaching abilities. You can read more about him at http://www.balterman.freeservers.com/ To enter the tournament room in SL use this path: Roselinda's Paradise (105, 45, 1501).


Gemma Cleanslate

CARP Announces the Release of Metaverse Art Books

The founders of Artspace Diabolus Cybernetic Art Research Project (CARP), Josina Burgess and Velazquez Bonetto are pleased to announce the publication of "Metaverse Art", a series of four books available via print on-demand. The production of the four volumes is a collaborative effort between CARP and Nazz Lane, the noted author of Lane's List a popular Second Life blog. The four volumes of Metaverse Art bring to light the creative minds of many of Second Life’s notable artists and content creators. These are the cutting edge creators, who are utilizing the virtual worlds to extend art into this newest space of human existence, the Metaverse.

In his forward to the book, DC Spensley asks, “What makes Metaverse Art interesting and important?” This is a very important question DC asks of the reader to which he provides an answer, discussing the evolution of information age media, social media and the integration them into an artistic community located in virtuality. He then concludes his forward with,”The shared virtual space for art is no less than revolutionary in that it creates a conceptual location for the next wave of art movements … this is the culture of confluence, hybridity and syncretism.”

Metaverse Art Book 2008-2010 01 210 pages 32,95 euro
http://www.blurb.com/books/1368230

Metaverse Art Book 2008-2010 02a 184 pages 27,95 euro
http://www.blurb.com/books/1368125

Metaverse Art Book 2008-2010 02b 212 pages 32,95 euro
http://www.blurb.com/books/1368011

Metaverse Art Book 2008-2010 03 172 pages 27,95 euro
http://www.blurb.com/books/1367929

A publication of the Artspace Diabolus Cybernetic Art Research Project (CARP) 2010 copyrights: Artspace Diabolus Cybernetic Art Research Project (CARP) 2010
Josina Burgess aka. Jose den Burger (Amsterdam Holland)
Nazz Lane (USA)
Velazquez Bonetto aka. László Ördögh Diabolus (Stuttgart Germany)

Forward: DanCoyote Antonelli aka DC Spensley (USA)

Metaverse snapshots:
Helfe Ihnen
Igor Ballyhoo
Josina Burgess
MillaMilla Noel
Tyrhel Byk
Alizarin Goldflake
Chrom Underwood
Velazquez Bonetto

All media inquires contact: Nazz Lane in Second Life or virtualnazz@gmail.com

Some Veterans' Day/Rememberance Day Places in Second Life

Besides the Veterans Tribute, there are numerous other locations which had a memorial to veterans. Some of these were recreations of real life memorials, and there was one Veterans' community sim.

To see the locations, go to Places.

Veterans Day/Rememberance Day

To those who served to defend Democracy, thank you from Second Life Newser.

Breezes Goes Home

A week ago, our dear colleague Breezes Babi was rushed to the hospital. Thankfully she recovered, and is now home in real-life, safe and sound.

Welcome back, Bree.

The Post That Should Not Be Ignored

Facebook has been an interesting way for friends and I to keep in touch, those in and out of Second Life. And in some cases, a chance to stay in contact with friends taking a break from the Grid, though games and an occasional shared joke.

Because of it’s volume, we occasionally hear about Facebook posts in the news. A few weeks ago a student left a short suicide note as a post before jumping off a bridge. It was certainly strange. One seldom if ever believes any post that shows up on your page will be anything like that.


So imagine the surprise when I logged on, and find that one of my Facebook/Second Life friends posted, “Goodbye. Please forgive me, I love you all.”

The post was hours old. Fortunately, she had a number of friends, at least one whom she entrusted her address. It was this friend whom within minutes of the post dialed 911 and alerted her city’s emergency services. They found her, overdosed, but caught it in time, and rushed her to the hospital. She was safe.

This isn’t the first time someone I knew brought up suicide. Once in real life and once in Second Life, a friend talked about doing away with himself. People whom have often leave warning signs, such as this. And what one should do is take such talk seriously, talk to them, and get them to change their minds. For someone in Second Life, with whom contacting real life help might not be an option, one can get in contact with a therapist or a group therapy group. Even if the friend won’t see them, one can talk to the therapist for advice (Industria Dowler was the one I contacted for advice on my friend). It can take a while to get a depressed friend to turn around, but it can be done.

For now, I can be thankful my friend was found in time, and is now in safe hands.

Bixyl Shuftan

Rescue by the SL Veterans Tribute Pilots

Today the family of SLVT Pilot Rhea Thor can rest easy thanks to a rescue operation conducted this morning. Rhea, a Swiss pilot, on loan from the Flying Tigers, was on a secret mission over the Dream Seekers Estates sim when her aircraft suddenly lost power. Fortunately Rhea was not injured when she was forced to conduct a low altitude ejection from her crippled plane. SLVT personnel responded immediately when word reached their headquaters. Wellhung (James) Bagley and Xabriana Porthos were hand picked to conduct a covert rescue mission behind enemy lines. Rhea, having already been on the ground for almost 24 hours, was located using the ultra secret SL mini-map satellite network. Agents Bagley and Porthos conducted a daring and challenging early morning HALO (high altitude low opening) jump from a SLVT Coast Guard C-130. Within hours of the jump, a SLVT Bell UH-60 extracted the two Agents and the downed Pilot.

Celebrations honoring the Agents and Pilot will be conducted during the Marine Birthday Ball on November 10. A buffet lunch will occur during the ceremonies.

SLVT Team Press Release

Winter Sports at Chamonix City

With winter getting closer, reporter Gemma Cleanslate found a place which winter sports are central to. Chamonix City, the place in Second Life that is a must see for skating and hockey fans.

Read the story in Places.

Explore It!

Grey Lupindo went to a place that recently opened: Explore It! Funded by a grant from California, a number of residents in Second Life have put their creativity into the area. So Grey looked it over, to see what the location offered.

Read the story in Places.

Veterans Tribute Opens

At 6 PM Sunday, the Second Life Veterans' Tribute officially opened, with an opening ceremony featuring TerryLynn Melody singing The Star-Spangled Banner. Since then, a number of DJs and live singers have offered music events, such as Phemie Alcott and David Csiszer on Monday.

The purpose of the Tribute, in addition to raising awareness for Veterans, is to raise Lindens for Operation Uplink (http://www.operationuplink.org/) which donates pre-paid phone cards for veterans serving overseas. The goal is 500,000 Lindens.

Various volunteers are at the Tribute, to answer any questions visitors have. Sometimes they are in uniform, such as a Civil War uniform worn by Jurassic Moonites.

The Tribute region has much to see. The center of the sim has a memorial wall, each brick having the name of a veteran, alive or deceased. Visitors can offer the names of veterans they know. The names from last year's wall are still there. Among those contributing names was Jamar Dexler, Revolutionary War fireship captain Thomas Perkins, "He's my 5th great grandfather on my mother's side of the family. He was ... on the John Hancock, then a Leutenant on the George Washington, and finally Captain of the Hecla. I have all the birth and death certificates that link me to him but I haven't joined the Son's of the American Revolution....yet!"

Jamar pointed to the brick left of Cpt. Perkins, "My good friend Steve Marshall is to the left. We had his funeral on Saturday." Marshal was with the Gemini Program, "he was an astronaut. He didn't go into space but he flew Navy jets. Many people don't realize there are many more astronauts than those we saw on television. I worked with him at a part time job and heard many many stories. He was really good and writing and telling them."

There are other memorials in the sim, such as a recreation of the American Unknown Soldiers' tomb, a memorial to Australian and New Zealand veterans, and a monument to Argentinian soldiers who fell during the Falklands War.


The sim offers a number of exhibits as well. "You have to hunt around to find the things," SLVT volunteer Wildroses Pevensey told. The southern part of the sim has many displays of Coast Guard ships and aircraft. The eastern edge of the sim has an aircraft carrier, the Wilder Carrier, along the length, which serves as a store, and a location for music events on the deck. Some of the planes, and even the carrier are up for auction. The winners will be chosen at 6 PM Friday. To the north are a few modern military exhibits, with helicopters and armored personnel carriers.

Wednesday will be a special day with a number of events. There will be an air show by the Flying Tigers group from 6 to 8 PM. At 7 PM will be a Coast Guard search & rescue demonstration. At 8 PM is the highlight, a Battle of Britain Tribute dogfight recreation, with three air groups participating, the Flying Tigers, RAF Biggin Hill Squadron, and the JG-2 "Richthofen" group.

SLVT volunteer Wellhung Bagley stated so far over 30 had offered to be singers, DJs, and other entertainers. At least 15 were involved in the air shows.

The Tribute will go on until Saturday, with the closing ceremonies at 6 PM.

The Second Life Veterans Tribute is at the Pelton Creek sim at (22,126, 26).

Bixyl Shuftan

Netera’s Coffee Lounge

Netera Landar owns an interesting little place in Second Life, where one can go and see noteable musicians and writers being interviewed, and afterwards chat with interesting people. This place is Netera's Coffee Lounge.

Read about the Lounge in Places.

Toys4Tots Christmas Action

Wunderland Records in corporation with Snowcrash Digital™ is proud to present their Toys4Tots Christmas fundraiser 2010. Just like last year a limited edition CD, especially created for this charity event will be on sale - 60 great christmas songs for only 500 linden dollars - of which 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the US Marines’ Toys4Tots charity.

Just like last year, Wunderland records and Snowcrash Digital™ have released a special limited CD in Second Life®. In 2009 this Christmas event was able to collect over L$1,6 million, making roughly US$5000 in only 56 days. All proceeds from this Christmas fundraiser are donated to Toys4Tots, a charity run by the US Marine Corps Reserve.

For 63 years the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program have distributed more than 400 million toys to more than 188 million needy children. This charitable endeavor has made the Marines the unchallenged leader in looking after less fortunate children at Christmas. Over the years the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation has supplemented local toy collections with more than 81.3 million toys valued at more than $487 million.

Wunderland Records and Snowcrash Digital™ would like to thank all of the contributors; over 60 musicians especially recorded a song for this charity action, and several Second Life® content creators donated special limited edition freebies which are included as a little extra with the CD. The CDs can be found at vendors in-world (http://bit.ly/a0byLU), and the fundraising progress can be followed online at our special mini site at http://toys4tots.snowcrashdigital.com.

# # #

For more information about this press release or about Wunderland Records, please feel free to contact Wunderland Records CEO Pat Wunderland at lema.awards@gmail.com

For more information about this press release or about Snowcrash Digital, please feel free to contact Snowcrash Digital’s marketing director Philippe Pascal at philippe@snowcrashdigital.com

--

Philippe Pascal

Second Life: ppmediadev Blinker
Marketing Director
philippe@snowcrashdigital.com

Breezes in Hospital

Second Life Newser received some sad news this weekend. Breezes Babi, one of our reporters, was taken to the hospital.

We at the paper wish her a full recovery.

Later Today

Later today, SL Newser will have a story on Netara's Coffee Lounge. The editor worked on the article, but is simply too tired to finish it for now.

Images of Nemo

Before the Nemo sim closed last Friday October 29th, SL Newser went there to get a few pictures while this magnificent build was still up. Here's some of the images of the now gone popular Steampunk place.

See the pictures in Places.

"A Penny for the Guy"

Arriving at New London Village at about 1:30 PM SL time, the Guy Fawkes Day/Bonfire Night party had already been going on for an hour and a half. Among the avatars celebrating was a GuyFawkes Firegrave, an alt brought out for these kinds of events. At 2 PM, GuyFawkes was hung in the gallows with the party continuing.

Life across the Pond gets it's holiday in Second Life.

An Unlikely Musical Duo: Phemie Alcott and Didier Soyuz

Shellie Sands has been on medical leave but , when given an opportunity, continues to write. She recently attended a CD launch party by two enormously talented musicians, who collaborated and produced a CD. They are Phemie Alcott and Didier Soyuz.

Read the story in People.

Newspaper Party Tomorrow

Tomorrow on Saturday November the 6th at 12 Noon SL time, Second Life Newspaper will be throwing a party for the staff, friends of the staff, readers, and anyone else who wants to come in for a little music and dance. We have both a little place on the beach, but also a nearby skating rink, and water for anyone who wants to swim.

So by all means drop in. Hope to see you there.

*ADDITION* Due to events, the party has been postponed until later.

Guy Fawkes Day/Bonfire Night

For British residents of Second Life, and those looking for a good party, November 5th is Guy Fawkes Day/Bonfire Night. In real-life celebrations, effugies of "The Guy" are burned, often after being stuffed with firecrackers. And in Second Life, some various locations, such as New London Village, will be having their own Guy Fawkes events.

New London Village offers more than a party. According to a CNN article by Janey Bracken, the sim has an exhibition around the Gunpowder Plot in which Guy Fawkes took part and was captured and executed for. Janey wrote the sim owners and managers, "have done a brilliant job displaying this part of the UK’s fascinating history."

The Bonfire party at New London Village will take place at Noon SL time. Other Guy Faukes events are taking place in Mango, the London England UK sim, and many others.

Bixyl Shuftan

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

The Instituto Espanol (58, 160, 25) celebrated the Mexican festival of Dia de los Muertos this week. In Mexico the celebration is held on November 1 and 2. It is a celebration of life and a way to honor deceased family members. At the Instituto, Cultural Director Malu Zhao has created a traditional altar that both celebrates and educates. Her exhibit includes a notecard that explains the significance of the items on the altar and gives directions on how to prepare one.

In her altar, Zhao placed photographs and the traditional items that are used to celebrate in Mexico. She placed a glass of water on the altar because water is a source of life and represents purity. She added candles to represent light, faith and hope. Her notecard explained that four or more candles are sometimes placed together to form a cross. Brightly colored marigolds are frequently used in the Dia de los Muertos altars, and they represent the impermanence of life. Seasonal fruits and special bread called “pan de muertos” are usually placed on the altar, too. Traditionally, Mexicans place tamales, mole and hot chocolate on the altar, as well as other food that the deceased person enjoyed. The food is a feast for the dead to enjoy. It is also customary to burn copal incense, which clears the space of any negative energy or bad spirits, and helps the dead find their way.

Students at the Institute competed in an altar building contest, and friends and visitors were encouraged to vote for their favorite. At the time this article was written, the Intermediate class had a healthy lead. The students placed their SL items, such as food, flowers, and candles on their altars.

To view the altars, follow the path lit by candles and strewn with marigold petals. It will lead you to a building decorated with colorful skulls. Go down the steps to the lowest level, where you will find the altars.

Grey Lupindo

Cartoon of the Day

By Bixyl Shuftan

Some Events on Halloween Weekend 2010

Halloween 2010 had no shortage of fun events, notably the costume parties. From large to small, there were many to go to, and a whole weekend to do them in. With the holiday finally over, here is a little of what took place.

Read about some of the fun times in Events.

Second Life Veteran’s Tribute

Coming up soon is the 2010 SL Veteran’s Tribute which will be held from Sunday, November 7th to Saturday, November 13th. This is the 4th annual Veteran’s Tribute that we have put together.

We are looking for Guides to help guests, monitor for inappropriate activities and behavior as well as to answer questions regarding the event. The Guides help on a volunteer basis only and there is no pay for any person that partipates in the Veteran's Tribute. Guides will receive a free uniform to wear when participating at the events. Guides will also receive "training" that last approximately one hour.

The Tribute itself is non-political and serves one purpose and one purpose only and that is to honor all the men and women that have given willing of their time to protect the lives we enjoy today.

The goal of the Tribute is to provide a non-political, content filled, educational, interactive SIM inside Second Life where men and women of all walks of life can visit and provide remembrance and honor to those who have served or currently are serving in the Armed Services.

The tribute operates on a zero dollar budget and are non-profit; the entire tribute is built, funded, organized and executed on a purely volunteer basis. We have an organized group on SL called the “SL Veteran’s Tribute” if you would like to look it up. This group will be used as the basis of our planning and scheduling for the Tribute.

The SL Veteran’s Tribute also collect donations for Operation Uplink (http://www.operationuplink.org/) which provides pre-paid phone cards for military personnel stationed overseas.

Should you wish to be a guide for this years event or have any questions please feel free to contact Jurassic Moonites or any of the Tribute Coordinators listed below:


Wellhung Bagley
Wildroses Pevensey
Jill Mackenzie
Dena McMahon
Classy Patton


With Kindest and Best Regards,
The SL Veteran’s Tribute Group

Election Day: Get Out and Vote

For those living in the United States, it’s that time of year. No, I don’t mean hit the 50% off Halloween costumes sales, but Election Day.

Two years ago, the 2008 Presidential Election had a number of residents on Election Day, Democrat and Republican, waiting in political themed sims with anxious hopes until the Democratic candidate Obama was declared the winner. Today, the Congressional elections have taken on an unusual amount of interest as some are predicting a historical turnover as a revitalized Republican Party is poised to retake the majority of seats in the House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate.

Not much is predictable, though. A number of races are too close to call, and the Democrats have been making a last-minute push for votes. It is still potentially up for grabs.

So “Get off your tail and vote.”

After you vote, one can hang out at one of the political sims to discuss the election returns in the news. Among the places Democrats can hang out is at Cafe Wellstone in Pini (55, 95, 46). Republicans have the GOP Cafe at the Grand Old Party sim at (217, 73, 27). Although those with opposing views can drop by for reasonable dialogue, those seen as troublemakers will be ejected faster than one can say “gerrymander.”

Bixyl Shuftan

Phoenix Reports Counterfeit Viewers

This message was going around Second Life group chats yesterday:

We've just received from a credible source that there are viewers being circulated that look just like official third party viewers, (including the Phoenix Viewer) but that have key loggers and password stealer's in the code. Please do not download any viewers from url's outside the viewers associated website! If someone offers you a viewer that is not hosted on their official site, please abuse report that person and include the link they were sending you too. More info about this on our website blog.

The source of the message was the Phoenix Viewer Team. It was not stated whom was sending these counterfeits.

Eye on the Blog: SL Economy “Steady”

On October 28, LL released some of their economic statistics, with Nelson Linden giving a statement.


The Second Life economy continues to be steady, with nearly all key measures staying within a narrow range of just a few percentage points up or down over the last year. The largest changes compared to last year's Q3 were an increase of 7.2% in World Size, a decline of 11% in User Hours, and a 115% increase in Web Merchandise Sales Volume. Over the last year, the number of people participating in the economy has also been consistent, ranging from 480,000 to 496,000 (currently 486,000), as has L$ Supply, which has ranged from US$25.4 million to US$26.2 million, and was at a 12-month high in Q3.


Most of the statistics showed uneven to no growth. The exception was the total sales volume on Xstreet/ SL Marketplace, “Total sales volume on both Xstreet SL and the new SL Marketplace rose 8.5% from Q2 and grew 115.2% year over year.”

The response from the residents in the comments below was mixed, leaning to dim views, some commenting LL was using “steady” in place of “stagnant.” A minority did comment it was better than they expected, having heard no shortage of dismal predictions.

For the Blog and the following comments, Click Here.

Skin Burn

Gemma Cleanslate's time as a ranger at the "Skin Burn" on Saturday October 30th was interesting to say the least. Contrary to what one might expect of an event that asked everyone to leave their clothes behind, there was very little nudity. Gemma remarked she saw more on a typical day of Burn 2. As people could wear textures, the effect was more like the avatars became living canvases (virtually living anyway).

Gemma provided Ranger Leondra Larrson's Flickr account link for her Burn2 pictures: Click Here, as well as providing the link of popular Second Life Singer Debi Latte's Skin Burn Flikr pictures: Click Here,

For Ranger Leondra Larrson's of Burn2 pics, Click Here.

For Debi Latte's Flckr Burn2 pics, Click Here.

*Addition* SL Newser made a typo in this article, which has been corrected.

Commentary "What Should I Do About the Land I Own on Second Life?"

Question:

Should I sell it or hold on to the land I own in Second Life and wait out the economy?. And what about Linden Lab restructuring, does it mean they are selling Second Life, if so what can I do?

Basically, in having invested a lot of your time and money, is it still a good investment considering all the recent changes with Linden Lab and the worlds economy?

MY REPLY

The future cannot be predicted and I'm not a 'futures' investor, so who knows but I can say this, in my opinion Second Life is a very successful business but that depends on how you measure it. By Linden Lab's measurement, I think they feel they have failed in their original intent but then they were overwhelmed with the resident/average user's output, so their original goals were sidetracked and they inadvertently switched to the unexpected resident oriented goals and LL got sloppy in going with the flow, so they had to pull up their pants so-to-speak, make new decisions and refocus on what they needed to do. By the time they did that thought, their founder had already lost interest and started a new business. This makes them seem a bit unsuccessful but wait...

After releasing their code source, LL has been successful in spawning a generation of 3d worlds, most of which are flourishing in more ways than anyone could have imagined. Search "3d world" or "open sim" and see what you come up with. Due to the current growth of open sim platforms, LL could feel that they have reached their goals and are now done and ready to move on to bigger and better things but I also think they feel an obligation to its residents and will find a way to insure creators can continue with Second Life, rather it be sold or not.

I think Linden Lab's Second Life, is ripe for sale and they may be preparing for that but they are not saying, so who knows. If sold, whomever buys it most likely will not change it much at first. They may come in with their own ideas about what's good for them and that may mean later changes. If they are smart, they will respect the solid foundation that Linden Lab is now trying to create and leave things as they are.

As for the land you now own. If it is not your sole income and something you enjoy. I would reevaluate it and make a decision to either stick it out and see what happens or sell and get out now. I do suggest you do not make a rash decision because these things are worth waiting out. I've learned that the best decisions are educated ones, so I suggest you read business news regarding 3d worlds such as www.hypergridbusiness.com. They offer credible research for their 3d related business stories. Search 'secondlife' and see what you come up with. Make sure the date is recent because this biz fluctuates everyday.

If I currently owned land on SL, I would not sell it but maybe cut down according to what makes sense to me based on the real world economy because it has affected Second Life. Virtual land sales have taken a big hit but have you thought about marketing differently? When something we do does not work for whatever reason, it means we have to find a different way of doing it - before we even contemplate giving it up - most just give up - will you?

SamanthaS Nightfire